Feuding flared up Monday between state officials and the federally appointed receiver who proposes bringing California prison health care up to constitutional standards by building seven inmate medical centers, starting with one near Stockton.

The Record

Feuding flared up Monday between state officials and the federally appointed receiver who proposes bringing California prison health care up to constitutional standards by building seven inmate medical centers, starting with one near Stockton.

Prison health care receiver J. Clark Kelso filed court papers in advance of an Oct. 6 hearing in San Francisco before U.S. District Thelton Henderson, who appointed Kelso. Kelso seeks $8 billion to build a total of 10,000 medical and mental health beds.

The first of the medical centers statewide is planned for the plot of land occupied by the shuttered Karl Holton Youth Correctional Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility southeast of Stockton.

Kelso in August filed a lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang, asking Henderson to hold the pair in contempt of court and pay $2 million a day until Kelso gets the full $8 billion.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown last week filed opposition to Kelso’s lawsuit on behalf of Schwarzenegger and Chiang, saying state officials last year designated $7.4 billion for prison construction.

Kelso responded Monday, saying that money is to relieve prison overcrowding and not to provide medical services.

“None of this really should be coming as a surprise to anybody,” Kelso said in a conference call with media. “The state’s obligation here to fund construction projects is unmistakably clear.”